Item Language Fallback doesn't work for Sitecore query

Question

This is for Sitecore 7.5 update-2 version.

We are using Item-level Language Fallback and everything works fine except this piece gives error every time except when in Page Editor mode.

item.Axes.SelectSingleItem('ancestor::*[@@templateid='GUID']//*[@@templateid='GUID']')

Above code returns NULL object when trying to fetch item in language version which it doesn't exist. Since we have Item-level Language Fallback configured I'm unable to understand why this doesn't fallback when using Sitecore query.

Anyone has any idea on this appreciated or did you faced same issue anytime?

Answer 1

Root cause was - Item existed in EN version and when trying to preview in other language it should fallback to EN. Now twist here was EN version had publishing restrictions so effectively item didn't existed in any language versions which somehow gives error, from Item-level Language Fallback module, in page when trying to use preview mode.

I have fixed this issue by modifying the Item-level Language Fallback module's source.

I have downloaded module source from Sitecore marketplace. Recompiled module source with modified class as below..

public class LanguageFallbackItemProvider : ItemProvider
{

   protected override Item GetItem(ID itemId, Language language, Version version, Database database)
   {
        ... some code ...

        Item fallback = GetItem(itemId, fallbackLanguage, Version.Latest, database);

        /* FIX START - TO CHECK FALLBACK ITEM IS NULL */
        if (fallback == null)
        {
            return item;
        }
        /* FIX END - TO CHECK FALLBACK ITEM IS NULL */

        var stubData = new ItemData(fallback.InnerData.Definition, item.Language, item.Version, fallback.InnerData.Fields);

        ... some code ...
   }
}